hello and welcome to westminster where the conservative party has two fewer mps today. that s after the tories suffered two by election defeats losing safe seats to labour and the liberal democrats. labour overturned a majority of more than 20,000 votes in the north yorkshire seat of selby and ainsty. the lib dems won somerton and frome in somerset, overturning a 19,000 vote majority. their leader says that a powerful message had been sent to the conservative party. but the tories held on to borisjohnson s former constituency of uxbridge and south ruislip in west london winning by just a95 votes. we ll be live in each of those constituencies in a moment but first here s our political
in their pockets and lives. that doesn t happen straight away. all of these things will be weighing on conservative mps minds. it could have been worse for the prime minister. if he had lost, but it is still not a great situation for him to find himself in. a former downing street adviser giving us his analysis. let s remind ourselves of all three by election results overnight. the conservatives suffered two historic by election defeats, losing safe seats to labour and the liberal democrats. a majority of more than 20,000 votes was overturned by labour in selby and ainsty and labour managed to achieve a 23.7% swing and broke the record of the largest conservative majority that it had overturned at a by election since 1945. although the lib dems and others have previously overturned bigger majorities. the lib dems won somerton and frome in somerset. they overturned a 19,000
people were saying, well, we tried our best. in the end, we struggled in uxbridge because of ulez. it was a single issue that really turned people against voting labour. the problem for that is that, the rest of the country doesn t look on this outcome very encouragingly at all for rishi sunak. if everything was being fought out on the ulez zone i think there will be a real problem for keir starmer, there is a problem with sadiq khan as the london mayor. in selby, 20,000 or so in that seat, that was overturned for labour. then you see the lib dem pincer movement in somerset, and you do think, unless everything is to bejudged by outer london, there are still a huge problem if the government. we heard from rishi sunak earlier looked relieved. it was certainly not the drubbing many predicted. some say it shows, when it comes to a general election, according to him, it is not a done deal.
patchwork. when you add it up, who gets a glass of wine with the numbers? i think it is quite right for rishi sunak to have his chin up and say, but i think the underlying problems have not gone away. there is a big but. problems have not gone away. there is a big but, when problems have not gone away. there is a big but, when it problems have not gone away. there is a big but, when it comes problems have not gone away. there is a big but, when it comes to - is a big but, when it comes to by elections, they are often seen as an opportunity to give the incoming government are kicking. they know it does not translate to a change of government. it does not translate to a change of government- does not translate to a change of government. it is true. it doesn t sto us government. it is true. it doesn t stop us covering government. it is true. it doesn t stop us covering them. government. it is true. it doesn t stop us covering them. it - government. it is true. it doesn t stop
with politico europe. people were saying, well, we tried our best. in the end, we struggled in uxbridge because of ulez. it was a single issue that really turned people against voting labour. the problem for that is that, the rest of the country does not look on this outcome very encouragingly at all for rishi sunak. everything was being fought out on the ulez its own. i think there will be a real problem for keir starmer, there is a problem for keir starmer, there is a problem with siddique khan as the london mayor sadiq khan as the london mayor sadiq khan as the london mayor. in selby, 20,000 or so in that seat, that was overturned for labour. then, you see the lib dem pincer movement in somerset, and you do think, unless something is to bejudged by 0uter you do think, unless something is to be judged by outer london, you do think, unless something is to bejudged by outer london, there you do think, unless something is to be judged by outer london, there are still a huge proble